By Lois Rogers | Correspondent

The vast nave of St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, resounded with joy June 6 as Bishop David M. O'Connell, C.M., ordained five new priests for the Diocese of Trenton.

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Applause swept the sacred space, soaring to the rafters, and tears fell freely among the standing room only throng of family members, friends, fellow parishioners and well-wishers who came to witness the ordination of the five: Father James. J. Grogan; Father John Edward Large; Father Jason Martin Parzynski; Father Jarlath William David Quinn, and Father Arian Hernando Warff Galvis to the priesthood.

Adding to the palpable excitement was that among the 700 in the pews, were so many family members and friends who had traveled great distances to be there. In attendance with them, were nearly 100 priest concelebrants, upwards of 50 permanent deacons and diocesan seminarians.

Joining Bishop O'Connell at the altar were Retired Bishop Bernard Joseph Harrington of Winona, Minn., Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, and Father Michael J. Carroll, Vincentian provincial of the order's Eastern Province.

The class of 2015 was the fifth group of priests Bishop O'Connell has ordained since becoming bishop five years ago. Bishop O'Connell, who observed the fifth anniversary of his arrival as coadjutor of the Trenton Diocese just two days earlier, conveyed his sentiments about the conjunction of those two occasions in remarks which came near the end of the ceremony.

With some emotion, he spoke of “what an honor and a privilege it is to be here today,” saying that of all his duties as a bishop during the year, the most “poignant is handing the gift” of ordination, instituted by Christ to the Apostles and passed directly on through the millenniums to the recipients today.

He spoke of the “laying on of hands” on the heads of man as the “most beautiful” moment, embodying the “love and fraternity” that exists among all of the priests gathered around their bishop.

In his homily, he drew on the teaching and words of St. Vincent de Paul, founder of the Congregation of the Mission, of his own religious order. He noted that St. Vincent spent much of his ministry in the training and service of diocesan priests.

“He saw the priesthood as an opportunity for people in the parishes to encounter Jesus Christ, the teaching Christ, the healing Christ, the consoling Christ, the forgiving Christ, the merciful Christ, the living God, Jesus Christ.”

The Bishop quoted St. Vincent's words: “There is nothing greater in the world, nothing I say, than the formation of good priests.”

“As a son of St. Vincent and your Bishop, I believe that with all my heart. And that is what brings us here today in the Diocese of Trenton. We have before us five young men – your sons and brothers and friends – who have completed their seminary formation and are about to be ordained priests. They are good men.”

He spoke of the different journeys each had and the different experiences behind them. “They are from Ireland, Colombia, Michigan, Middletown and Moorestown, New Jersey. They have been formed well. They are ready. And the Church of the Diocese of Trenton needs them. We need them.”

“What do we need them for?” queried Bishop O’Connell about the newly ordained. “What do we need from them? What do we need them to be?”

“We need them to be men of God,” the Bishop fervently stated as he spoke of the primary role of the priest. That is their first and most important responsibility.” Further in his homily, he said, “we need them to be men of God and men of the Church. We profess, all of us, that we believe in 'one, holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.' This is not a passing fancy or a throwaway line from some ancient text: this is our deepest conviction, rock solid … It is our obligation and our fundamental identity to be the face and the very identity of the Church of Jesus Christ.”

More to come on today’s extraordinary celebration of priestly ordination.